Brown County Vehicle Impound Guide

Brown County runs DWI tows through a rotational wrecker system managed by the Sheriff's Office and local dispatchers, so which lot ends up with your car depends on whose turn it was that night. Welch Bros Towing handles most of it, with a primary lot at 3203 Stephen F Austin and a second lot at 6435 Highway 279 for anything pulled from the Lake Brownwood area. Lonestar Recovery, at 309 Coleman St., handles interstate and heavy-duty recovery.

Fees stack fast, and where the tow happened changes the math. Texas caps this kind of tow at $272 statewide, but Brownwood's own Depot Fee Ordinance sets a lower local cap: $125 for a tow during business hours, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., or $150 if it happens on a weekend, holiday, or after hours, which covers most DWI arrests. On top of that, storage runs about $22.85 a day, plus a flat $20 impoundment fee for logging the vehicle and notifying its owner and lienholder.

Getting the car back means proof of ownership, a valid photo ID, and proof of insurance, and that ID requirement creates a real problem: if your license was confiscated at the arrest, the DIC-25 temporary permit alone usually isn't enough at a storage facility gate. Bring a passport or other secondary government ID. If you're still in jail or barred from driving, someone else can only claim the vehicle with a notarized power of attorney or a VSF release form signed by the registered owner.

You can contest a tow you believe had no legal basis, but the window is unforgiving: file with a Justice of the Peace within 14 calendar days of the tow, and the county's JP courts sit in the courthouse annex at 200 South Broadway. Precinct 1 (Judge Mitchell W. Jacobson) and Precinct 2 (Judge Harold Hogan) both handle these. Miss that 14-day window and you've permanently waived the right to fight the towing and storage charges, regardless of what happens with the underlying DWI case.